The Potions Thief
by coyotekat
Summary: Professor Severus Snape, a changed man back teaching Potions after the war, is furious when he discovers someone has stolen from his potions ingredients. His determination to discover the culprit leads to some unexpected results.
1. Chapter 1

Alice Murphy's heart was pounding in her chest and her stomach churned unpleasantly, but her hands were steady as they reached out seemingly of their own volition and stole the necessary potions ingredients from Professor Snape's stores. Alice was terrified of Professor Snape – she had been since she had first come to Hogwarts and that had not changed all that much even though his loyalty and heroism had been proven beyond a shadow of a doubt in the final battle against Voldemort more than three years ago. But as terrified as she was of what Professor Snape would do to her if he discovered her theft, she was more terrified of what would happen if she didn't steal these ingredients. She was in a desperate position and this was the only possible solution she could find. If she could just make this potion before anyone found out, everything would be okay. She wouldn't care what the professor did to her then; she just needed a little time.

Alice had spent the past week in a turmoil of terror, anger, and revulsion, her every spare moment focused on finding a way to fix this problem. And now the moment was here – the potion had turned a deep, shimmering red that meant it was ready. Alice ladled out the required dose, took a deep breath, and swallowed it down in three quick gulps. She stood frozen in suspense, waiting for some sign that the potion was working. After a minute, a warm tingle spread throughout her body then contracted tighter and tighter, centering over her abdomen and intensifying until it was almost painful. And then suddenly the feeling was gone and Alice knew right away that the potion had worked. She cast a quick charm on herself to be sure, then sagged to the floor in relief. Only then did she break down and weep.

xxxXXXxxx

Severus Snape swept into the Great Hall the next morning in a fine temper. He sat down in his regular seat and began attacking his breakfast without a word of greeting to anyone.

Most of the staff had enough sense to leave him alone when he was like this, but the young man sitting next to him only smirked, familiar as he was with other man's moods. "What has you in such a snit this morning?" he asked, knowing it would only irritate the man.

"I am not in a _snit_ , Potter, and I am most certainly not in the mood for your inane chatter," Severus replied, turning his fiercest glare on the young DADA professor.

"Fine then, just don't take it out on the pancakes," Harry replied, not trying to hide his smirk.

Severus looked down at his plate, where there was indeed a pile of hopelessly mangled pancakes. He didn't even like pancakes. "If you must know, you meddlesome brat, I discovered this morning that someone broke into my stores overnight and helped themselves to my potions ingredients. I do not appreciate students stealing from me any more now than I did in your school days, Mr. Potter."

Harry turned his best wide-eyed, innocent look on the professor next to him. "I have no idea what you're talking about, I can't imagine anyone being crazy enough to steal from you," Harry said. "What do you plan to do about it?"

"I'm going to find the culprit," Severus replied, glaring out at the tables full of students, "and he or she will most likely be serving detention for the rest of their miserable life."

Although talking with Potter had somehow diffused his anger, Severus deliberately worked himself back into a rage before his first Potions class of the day. He needed to appear at his most threatening to suitably intimidate the students. Severus took some pleasure in the fearful silence that descended on the classroom as soon as he entered – he didn't even need to say a word to terrify the sixth year class.

Severus addressed the class, his voice soft and menacing. "It has come to my attention that a student has stolen from my private stores of potion ingredients. Be assured that the culprit has no hope of escaping detection. I would advise the guilty party to turn his or herself in at the first opportunity to have any chance of being shown mercy." His tone made it clear that mercy was unlikely.

There was complete silence for a long moment, followed by a rush of shocked whispers that were quickly hushed up by the professor's glare. He knew word would spread quickly throughout the school, but Severus didn't really expect a confession. It didn't really matter; whatever it took he would not let the thief get away with this.

xxxXXXxxx

As luck would have it, Alice Murphy was in the first Potions class that day and listened to Professor Snape's warning with a feeling of dread. At lunch and dinner, she heard the tales flying around the Great Hall. The warning speech had been repeated in every Potions class and there were rumors that a few students had been questioned individually. That was enough for Alice to make up her mind.

That night after dinner, Alice nervously approached Professor Snape's office. Her hand trembled as she reached out to knock on his door.

"Enter," came the familiar voice from inside, and the door clicked open in front of her.

Alice had been half hoping that the Potions Master wouldn't be in his office, but now she had no choice but to go forward with her plan. She took a deep breath and walked into the office.

Severus Snape looked up in surprise as a sixth year Ravenclaw girl, Alice Murphy, walked into his office. He recognized her of course – she was an excellent Potions student even among the Ravenclaws – but he didn't believe he had ever before spoken to her outside of class. He had the impression was that she was quite shy and while she got along well with all of her classmates she wasn't particularly close to any of them. The girl reminded him a bit of himself as a student, shy and studious, although Severus was pretty sure she had never been the target of bullies and had no interest in the Dark Arts. Severus was mystified as to why the girl would approach him.

"Ms. Murphy, have a seat, please," Severus said, hiding his confusion. "What brings you to my office this evening?"

The girl nervously perched on the edge of the chair in front of his desk, her gaze fixed on the floor in front of her. Then she took a deep breath and seemed to steel herself to look up and meet his eyes. "I wanted to tell you I'm the one who stole your potion ingredients," she said in a trembling voice, and then returned her gaze to the floor.

Severus was shocked. This quiet girl, a model student who never drew attention to herself, was the last person he would have suspected as the thief. And yet, here she was confessing. "Can you explain why you did it?"

"I needed to make a potion." She may have been willing to confess but she clearly wasn't going to volunteer a lot of detail.

"And why are you confessing?" Surely the girl knew she was unlikely to be considered as a suspect.

"I know it was wrong of me to steal. I felt that I had no other choice, but I still feel guilty about it. You said you would not give up searching for the culprit and people are saying you've been questioning students. I won't let anyone else be accused in my place." Alice was clearly terrified and could not quite meet his eyes, but her voice was steady and determined throughout this speech.

Severus was silent for a long moment, still recovering from the surprise. Something was going on here but he didn't know how to figure out what it was. Might as well try just asking her. "Tell me, Ms. Murphy, why did you need to make a potion outside of class? What was the potion for?"

The girl looked a bit panicked at that question and stuttered a bit as she said "I- I'd rather not say, sir."

Severus sighed. Of course it wouldn't be that easy. "Well, Ms. Murphy, it does speak well of you that you confessed so readily, but theft is still a very serious offense. In order to make up for this, you will serve detention every Friday evening up until the Christmas holiday."

Severus expected some reaction to this announcement – it was only two weeks into the term so that would be quite a lot of detentions. He doubted the girl had ever received a single detention in all her time at Hogwarts. But she just nodded and said "Yes, sir." Alice had expected the terrifying professor to be furious, so she was relieved to be getting off so lightly. Perhaps the professor was not as bad as she had always feared.

Severus watched her for a moment, thinking hard, then dismissed her. Her first detention would be tomorrow night. In the meantime, he would take a more carefully inventory of what was missing from his potions supplies and try to figure out what potion she had made. Maybe that would give him some clue as to where to go from here.

xxxXXXxxx

When Alice arrived for detention the next night, Professor Snape was sitting at his desk looking even more serious than usual as he asked her to come in and take a seat.

"Alice, I've realized something that concerns me greatly since we spoke yesterday, and I think we need to talk about it." Severus relaxed his usual formality, hoping to put her at ease with the use of her first name. "I've taken a complete inventory of exactly what is missing from my potions ingredients and I've been considering what kind of potion you could have brewed with those particular ingredients. There are only two possibilities that come to mind and both of them are quite concerning."

Alice's thoughts were racing as she tried to come up with a response. She should have known the Potions Master would be able to figure out what she had been brewing – the man knew everything about potions. She wished she knew what the other possible potion was; maybe that one would be safer to admit to. Alice chose to say nothing to incriminate herself and waited for the professor to speak again.

"One of them is a potion to cause abortion, and the other is an explosive strong enough to destroy half the castle."

Well that settled it. She could hardly claim she was plotting to blow up Hogwarts. Alice sat with her head bowed, fighting back tears. "I… It was the abortion potion, Professor. I was hoping I could keep it a secret but I guess it doesn't matter if you know now that it's done."

"Would you allow me to confirm that?" Severus asked, and when Alice nodded he cast a diagnostic charm that verified that the potion had been successful.

"Please, sir, you won't tell anyone, will you?" Alice asked, still blinking back her tears.

"You should see Madam Pomfrey, Ms. Murphy, and you are still a minor, are you not? I believe the school shall have to inform your family."

"No! Please, no, you can't, he can't find out, please," Alice begged, wild with fear.

Severus stared at the girl, surprised at the intensity of her reaction. He had a bad feeling about what could have inspired this level of fear in the child. Suddenly, Alice leapt up and ran for the door. Severus, acting on instinct alone, chased after her. He grabbed her shoulder just as she reached the door. The girl flinched violently and raised her arms to shield her head. Both of them froze in place for a shocked moment.

Severus quickly released the girl and backed away, but he also whispered a word to lock the door and prevent her escape.

"I'm sorry, sir, you just surprised me," Alice gasped, but she was still cringing away from him.

"Come now, child, I think we both know that is a flimsy excuse. I don't know why it took me so long, but I'm capable of recognizing the signs of abuse when they slap me in the face."

Alice's shoulders slumped and she stayed silent. She had kept her secret for so long and now she didn't even have the strength left to try to deny the truth.

"I can't believe I didn't notice it sooner." It seemed to clear to Severus now; no wonder the girl had reminded him of himself as a student.

"I've always been happy at Hogwarts, sir. Even during the bad years of the war and everything I've always felt at home here."

Severus thought it said a lot about the girl's situation that she had felt safer at Hogwarts than at home even during his own reign of terror as Headmaster.

"Will you tell me about it, please?"

Alice sighed and nodded. She wasn't sure if she wanted to or not, but now that the truth had been spoken aloud she felt almost compelled to talk about it. Severus reached out slowly and cautiously placed a hand on her shoulder. When she didn't resist, he guided the girl through a hidden door and sat next to her on the couch in his own private sitting room.

Alice spoke, her voice softer and steadier now. "It's a bit of a long story…"

"That's all right, take your time."

"I suppose to start at the beginning I'd have to tell you that I never knew my father. He was a Muggle and he left my mother after she told him she was a witch and that she was pregnant. I don't know which one he couldn't handle, but she always blamed me for him leaving. I knew even as a small child that she didn't care for me. My mother got married when I was eight, to a wizard this time, Richard Warwick. Her anger at my father had grown into a hatred of all Muggles and the two of them, well I guess you could say they were sympathetic to Voldemort's point of view. They ridiculed me for being a half-blood. Richard, my stepfather, was always cruel and he could be … violent. But it wasn't too bad until this past summer, after my mother died."

Alice had been speaking steadily and unemotionally to this point, but here she paused. Severus waited patiently for her to continue. He suspected her definition of 'not too bad' wouldn't match his.

"It was the night after my mother's funeral the first time he … the first time he raped me. It was such a shock, I didn't know what to do, and he wouldn't let me contact anyone anyway. It continued all summer, almost every day. I didn't think he'd let me come back to Hogwarts; it was such a relief when he did. I'd been back at school a week when I realized I was pregnant. I was in such a panic wondering what would happen if anyone found out, what Richard might do if he found out, all I could think about was getting rid of it. I didn't think of it has a baby, it was an abomination. I spent most of the next week researching and the potion was the only safe method of abortion I could find. And you know the rest. I figured as long as it was done no one could undo it and whatever consequences I had to face for the theft would be nothing compared to the consequences of not taking the potion."

Her voice had remained calm throughout and Severus didn't notice until Alice stopped speaking that there were silent tears sliding down her cheeks. Severus carefully slipped his arm around her shoulders and watched her closely for any resistance as he pulled her into a gentle hug, but she seemed too exhausted to be frightened as she leaned against him. They sat quietly like that until Alice's tears had stopped.

"I'm so sorry, child," Severus said finally. That made her look up briefly in surprise. "I'm sorry that you've had to go through all this and that you've been my student for more than five years and I never noticed anything was wrong. I'm sorry that you didn't have anyone you could trust to help you. But I promise you I will do everything in my power to help you now and won't let that bastard lay a single finger on you again."

Alice said nothing; she was clearly completely drained by the events of the evening. "It's getting late, child, and you're in no condition to be hiking back to Ravenclaw Tower. I think you should take a dose of Dreamless Sleep and you can spend the night on the couch here."

Alice was too exhausted to protest and so she soon found herself curled up on Professor Snape's couch with a blanket and pillow, slipping into a deep, potion-induced sleep. Severus waited until she was asleep then placed several unobtrusive monitoring charms on her and retreated to his own room. He stayed up late into the night, thinking about the girl and wondering how he could possibly help her.

xxxXXXxxx

Severus was unsurprised to find Alice was gone when he woke the next morning. He knew she would be embarrassed that she had revealed so much and she would want some distance. He sent her a note and then resolved to put the matter from his mind for a while. Severus was still worried about the child, but he trusted his monitoring charms to alert him if she were in any great distress or danger.

 _Ms. Murphy,_

 _I wanted to assure you that I will keep what you have told me in confidence for the time being, although I do believe we will have to discuss this further at a later date. While I understand the reason for your theft, your sentence will stand and I will expect you for detention this coming Friday. I expect that we can use this time to talk further, although you are of course welcome to come see me at any time, for any reason at all. I am here if you need me._

 _S. Snape_

Alice wasn't sure what to think when she received the note from Professor Snape at breakfast. She didn't think she was truly afraid of the professor anymore, but she couldn't believe she had trusted him with so many of her secrets. It was all too overwhelming. She would have to wait and see what happened at her next detention.


	2. Chapter 2

In detention the following week, Alice managed to avoid talking about anything personal. Severus was frustrated with her stubbornness but decided it would do no good to force her; all he could do was try to show her that she had his support and keep a close eye on her. And so Severus had her help him brew potions for the hospital wing, and as they worked he drew her into casual conversation about other things - the potions, her classwork, never anything too serious.

This pattern continued every Friday for several weeks. Severus found he enjoyed working with the girl – he had taught so many dunderheads over the years that he was usually satisfied if his students could simply follow basic instructions and produce passable potions. It was rare to have a student who understood the theory behind the brewing and could ask intelligent questions and make educated suggestions.

It was during one of these detentions that Harry Potter stopped by the potions lab unexpectedly and asked to borrow a book. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize you were busy, but I'm trying to work on some lesson plans and that book would be a big help," Harry said.

"Really, Potter, I find it terribly sad that you have nothing better to do on a Friday evening than work on lesson plans."

Harry blushed, hoping the Potions Master had seen through Harry's excuse for coming to see him. "Well at least I'm not spending my Friday doing … what exactly are you two doing?" Harry answered, looking at Alice curiously.

"Ms. Murphy is here serving a detention, I'm sure you're familiar with the concept."

"I seem to remember my detentions involving a lot more cauldron scrubbing."

"Yes, Potter, but Ms. Murphy is a far better Potions student than you ever were and her help is actually useful to me." Severus turned to Alice and said, "I will be gone just a moment to retrieve the book for Professor Potter. I am trusting you to keep a close eye on him and not allow him to move a single step further into this room. He is a walking disaster in potions lab and I do not want any explosions."

Alice had watched all this, silent and wide-eyed, a bit stunned by the praise as well as the comfortable banter between the two professors. Now, as Severus swept out of the room, she looked nervously at Professor Potter.

"He was joking, you know," Harry said. "I mean, I really was abysmal in Potions and he certainly will murder me if I touch anything in here, but he doesn't really expect you to guard the room." Harry grinned at the girl, who smiled tentatively back at him. "I mean what could he expect you to do really, tackle me if I make a move towards a cauldron?"

Alice pulled out her wand and cast a shield charm that the young DADA professor had taught her class just that week. She expanded the shield around the entire room, bending it around the professor to leave him a small crescent of space to stand against the door.

Harry chucked and said, "Very good, Ms. Murphy, I'm impressed. It's good to know you were paying attention in class." Harry could of course break through this shield easily enough if he wanted to, but the girl had made her point that she was willing to defend the lab if necessary.

Severus reappeared in the doorway behind Harry and smirked as he took in the scene before him. Alice quickly dropped the shield when she saw the Potions professor. "I see you kept Potter in line, Ms. Murphy. Ten points to Ravenclaw for a job well done." Still smirking, he handed the book to Harry and sent him on his way.

xxxXXXxxx

Outside of detention, Severus kept as close an eye on Alice as he could and he continued to worry. Now that he was watching closely, he noticed the girl was often absent from breakfast in the Great Hall and several times she arrived to his morning Potions class only barely on time. She looked tired all the time; most Fridays after her 'detentions' they shared a cup of tea in his quarters and she ended up falling asleep on his couch. And while her classwork was still excellent it was not quite up to her usual standards. While she appeared as usual to the casual observer, Severus felt that she was beginning to show more and more signs of strain and he feared she would soon reach a breaking point.

That point came on a Wednesday night in early November. Severus Snape and Harry Potter were sitting in matching armchairs in Severus' private quarters, grading papers in comfortable silence. Severus wasn't quite sure how it had happened, but this had become something of a routine between them since Potter had returned to Hogwarts to teach Defense the year before. Somehow, Potter had invited himself in and Severus had never quite gotten around to uninviting him. He would never in a thousand years admit it, but he had come to enjoy Potter's company.

Severus was in the middle of scrawling scathing comments on a particularly atrocious third year essay when a loud buzzer sounded in his ear. It took him a moment to realize what the sound meant, then Severus was racing for the door, not noticing as his stack of essays scattered across the floor. "I must go, see yourself out," he snapped at Potter.

"Wait!" Harry cried. "Do you need any help?" Harry couldn't imagine what would induce the suspicious Potions Master to leave him unsupervised in his private quarters.

Severus paused for an instant, surprised by the offer. "I don't believe so, but I will send a message to you if that changes." Then Severus turned and ran.

He found Alice at the top of the Astronomy Tower, staring out into the darkness with a bleak look as the wind whipped through her dark hair. She hadn't noticed his approach and jumped when he spoke her name from his place at her shoulder.

"Professor Snape! I'm sorry, I know I'm not supposed to be up here."

"Alice, are you okay?" It didn't seem to be quite the crisis he had pictured, and Severus felt a bit calmer.

"What? I'm fine, sir."

"Alice, what do you think brought me up here just now?" He had told her early on about the monitoring charms he had placed on her. "I don't believe for a moment that you have been 'fine' all term, but it wasn't until tonight that something triggered my monitors."

"Oh. Well I wasn't going to jump or anything if that's what you're thinking. I mean I may have thought about it in an abstract sort of way but I would never do something like that." Severus just stared at her, not convinced, so she continued. "Even if things kind of suck right now, I've always believed that the future will be better, that things will be different. Of course, it hasn't been true so far, but I've never stopped hoping." She smiled at him, but it was full of bitterness.

"Hope is a precious thing, but it can be difficult to live on hope alone. How are things in the here and now?" Severus asked softly.

The darkness and the wind made Alice feel a little wild and somehow it was easier to be bolder and more honest. "Not so great. Everything is hard this year. I want to stop thinking about what happened but I can't. My stepfather … he's been sending me letters. He goes on and on about everything he did to me and how he can't wait to see me again. He's trying to force me to come home for Christmas."

"Alice, I wish you could have trusted me with this sooner rather than worrying over it. I really do want to help you. Even if you won't admit what happened to the authorities, I can keep you from having to go back for Christmas and I can stop his letters from reaching you."

"Richard says that since he's my guardian no one can stop him from insisting I come home for Christmas. I won't be 17 until spring."

"That may be true legally speaking, but I can't imagine he will call in the authorities on the matter. I can simply inform him that you need to remain at Hogwarts to complete a special Potions project. I don't believe I will have any difficulty convincing him." Severus wouldn't tell the girl, but he would relish a chance to threaten the man. "Can you trust me to take care of this, please?"

Alice was still doubtful, but it was worth a try. "All right, thank you."

"Do you still have his most recent letter?"

Alice pulled a letter from her pocket and handed it to the professor. "This came today," she said.

Severus suspected the girl's distress over the letter had been what triggered his monitoring charms. When Severus opened the letter, it contained an innocuous note inquiring about the girl's studies and asking politely about her plans for Christmas. It looked like a perfectly ordinary note from a caring guardian. It took Severus only a few moments to break the spells on the paper, allowing him to read the true message. It contained shockingly graphic reminiscences of the events of the summer and threats for the future that made Severus shake with rage. The man was truly a monster and Severus could think of several suitable curses he would love a chance to use on him, but for now he would stick to threats and work on convincing the girl to turn the man in to Magical Law Enforcement.

"I do believe you will feel better once you are no longer receiving this poison," Severus said after reading through the letter, "but you and I are going to talk a great deal more than we have been about what has been troubling you this term. I have left you alone with your thoughts for too long and you are too isolated. I am not averse to assigning you more detentions if you will not come see me willingly." Severus raised his eyebrows questioningly.

"I don't think that will be necessary, sir," Alice replied. "I'll come."

xxxXXXxxx

After that night, Alice began visiting the Potions Master's office several times a week to talk, in addition to the weekly detentions. Severus had no success convincing Alice to talk to someone more qualified about her problems, but he consulted a number of Muggle psychology books to help muddle his way through. He also shared more with her about his own childhood than he ever had before. Severus felt completely unqualified to help the girl, but she did seem to be doing better. She was certainly sleeping better and seemed better able to focus on her schoolwork.

It was almost December, several weeks after this breakthrough, when Severus obtained Alice's permission to invite Harry Potter to join the two of them for tea. He thought letting another person in on her secrets might help Alice to eventually admit what had happened to others. And while Potter was no more qualified to counsel abuse victims than he was, Severus thought he could provide a unique perspective based on his own experiences.

"I brought Professor Potter here to help make my point. All of us here suffered abuse at the hands of our families, and I want you to see that this doesn't mean that there is anything wrong with you or that you are doomed to a life of failure. Potter here was starved and kept locked in a cupboard by his aunt and uncle, and he turned out to be the hero of the wizarding world and the youngest professor in Hogwarts history. And while I am perhaps not the best role model, I am at least gainfully employed and not in Azkaban."

"Don't be ridiculous, Severus, you're the hero here," Harry said, embarrassed. "He's right about some things though," Harry said to Alice. "Some people are just shitty human beings and our relatives happened to be some of them. It doesn't say anything about you and it certainly wasn't your fault. And they say living well is the best revenge and all that."

So Harry became a regular participant in some of their meetings, although never the ones that involved potions. Since he was closer to her age, it was easier for him to be more of a friend than a professor to Alice. He also arranged in his classes for her to work with another girl he thought would be friendly to her. "I didn't know how to make friends when I first came to Hogwarts," Harry told Alice one day. "I was just lucky I stumbled into meeting Ron on the train. What I don't think is obvious from your side of things is that shyness is often taken for aloofness and if people think you aren't interested in being friends with them, eventually they'll stop trying. There's no way around it; you have be willing to take a risk and just ask to be included."

It was terrifying, but Alice worked up her courage enough to ask another Ravenclaw sixth year, Hannah Meyer, if she wanted to study together. To her surprise, the girl was immediately receptive to her overture, and Alice soon found herself invited to all manner of group study sessions and Hogsmeade outings. Hannah became her closest friend of the group over the next several months and Alice told her little bits and pieces about her past, explaining why she had been so reserved over the years.

"I always kind of thought you just didn't like any of us," Hannah said to Alice after one of these admissions. "Back when we first started school, we would ask you to do things with us and you would always refuse so eventually I guess we just accepted it."

"I can see that now, but at the time I was just very shy and I couldn't see why anyone would want to be friends with me. I didn't want anyone to find out about my family either."

"Well I'm glad you came around. I think you're all right. And since you're so friendly with Professor Snape you can keep him from being too hard on us in Potions," Hannah said with a grin.

Alice laughed and said, "Don't get your hopes up, I don't think anyone could manage that."

xxxXXXxxx

There was a Valentine's Day ball that year, part of an ongoing postwar effort to 'brighten up the student's spirts.' To Harry and Severus the whole thing was a rather sickening reminder of the Gilderoy Lockhart debacle, but Alice was excited to be attending with her new friends. She met the two professors in the halls before the ball – both had volunteered to patrol the halls in order to avoid being forced to attend the actual event.

"You look very nice, Alice," Harry said. "I hope you enjoy yourself."

"Do you really think so?" she asked shyly. "I feel a bit silly." She was wearing dress robes in a bright turquoise blue and was wearing her dark, wavy hair down instead of in its usual messy ponytail.

"You look lovely," Severus assured her. "Of course, you probably shouldn't take the opinion of two gay men too seriously when it comes to female beauty."

Harry blushed bright red. He hadn't even been sure Severus was gay, and hadn't known Severus knew he was, so he was completely shocked to hear the other man mention it so casually. There was a long, tense moment of silence between the two men, then Severus said, "I have wayward students to terrify and house points to take. Enjoy your evening, Alice." He turned and strode away, leaving a stunned Harry behind.

xxxXXXxxx

By the beginning of April, Alice felt life was going pretty brilliantly, well enough to turn her attention to something else that had been bothering her for a while. She still had regular meetings with the two professors where they talked about anything and everything, and she still helped Severus brew potions at least once a week even though her detention sentence had long since expired. She had never been busier, but she had also never been happier. Severus had become almost a father figure to her, and Harry was like an older brother. Alice had a strong suspicion, however, that their feeling for each other were not so platonic. In fact, she was quite sure of Harry's feelings for the older man. Severus, as always, was harder to read, but Alice felt a growing tension between the two of them whenever they were together and she felt she would go mad if they didn't do anything about it soon.

She approached Harry first, alone in his office after class. "Harry, when are you going to tell Severus you're in love with him?"

Harry stared at her, stunned. "You know, I almost miss the days when you were too shy to speak outside of class," he joked. "What gave you that crazy idea?"

"Don't play dumb, it's obvious. And I'm pretty dense about that sort of thing so if it's obvious to me it must be _really_ obvious."

"All right, I hope it's not that clear to anyone else but I'll admit it. But I'm really not planning to tell him. I think it's utterly hopeless, don't you?"

"No I don't think it's hopeless. He clearly likes you a great deal, I just can't tell if it's just friendly or something more."

Harry scoffed at this. "He only barely tolerates me."

"Really, you are a bit dense. You think he only 'tolerates' you spending half the evenings each week with him? And he only tolerates talking with you at every meal, even though he never used to speak more than a few words to anyone at meals?"

"Well maybe you have a point, but what am I supposed to do about it?"

"I thought you were a Gryffindor, Harry. A true Gryffindor would do something bold and courageous and not be a pansy about it." Alice gave Harry the same raised-eyebrow look Severus often used to make his point. Harry felt the two of them were getting to be entirely too similar.

"I suppose you're right," Harry said with a sigh. "I'll have to turn in my Gryffindor membership card if I keep up with this much longer."

xxxXXXxxx

Alice was slightly more subtle in her approach with Severus later that same day. "I think Harry has a crush on someone," she told Severus.

"What on earth makes you think I'd be interested in discussing Potter's love life?" Severus answered.

"He's your friend isn't he? Most of what I know about personal relationships I learned from you so I may be hopelessly confused, but I think people generally express some interest in their friend's lives?"

Anyone else would have been shocked by the warm smile on the Potions Master's face. "I think you're doing just fine on the personal relationship front," he said. He had grown very fond of the girl over the last few months, and so he tried to humor her. "What about Potter?"

"He asked me for my advice," Alice fibbed. "He wanted to know what I thought a person should do if they liked someone - just go for it and hope for the best or try to be sure they returned your feelings first."

"That is an interesting dilemma. What did you tell him?"

"I didn't know what to say. I can't imagine ever being brave enough to even be in that situation."

"Well any Slytherin will tell you that you should always be sure before you act. But Potter is undoubtedly better suited to rushing in blindly, full of Gryffindor courage."

Alice smiled and said, "It seems to me that if everyone were a Slytherin no one would ever get together. Someone has to do the risk-taking."

"Perhaps you're right."

xxxXXXxxx

Alice found Harry still in his office, lost in thought. "I talked to Severus – you're going to have to just go for it."

"What! What did you tell him?"

"I didn't really tell him anything. I posed it as a philosophical question. He said a Slytherin would always have to be sure their feeling were returned before making a move and that a Gryffindor would take a risk and hope for the best."

Harry eyed her suspiciously. "Now that both of you have called my Gryffindor courage into question, I suppose I really will have to do something."

Harry was a straightforward sort and had never been one to waste much time once he had made up his mind to do something. He approached Severus in his rooms the next evening. "Severus, I have to tell you something."

Severus waited silently.

"I've been in love with you for ages and I just can't keep it to myself any longer," Harry said, and then he grabbed Severus by the shoulders and pulled him into a clumsy kiss.

Severus stood stiff and frozen until Harry had just about given up, then he suddenly began to kiss Harry back. Severus took over the kiss, pushing Harry back against the door and pressing against him. When they finally broke apart, Harry said, "Should I take this to mean you don't find me completely repulsive?"

"Yes, Potter, it should be abundantly clear I don't find you repulsive."

"I guess I'll have to thank Alice for this," Harry said.

"Is that what that conversation yesterday was about? She was trying to gauge my feelings for you?"

"I certainly didn't ask her to. She was hounding me about when I was going to say something to you. She actually called me a pansy," Harry replied, still a bit affronted.

Severus actually laughed. "I will definitely have to thank her for that," he said, and then he pulled Harry into another kiss.

 **A/N:** That's the end of my first ever attempt at writing fanfiction. It didn't turn out like I expected and it makes me sick with nerves to imagine anyone reading it, but it was fun to write. I hope someone enjoyed it.


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